Apparatus for vaporizing hydrocarbon oils.



W. P. FLINT. APPARATUS FOR VAPORIZING HYDROGARBON OILS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 18, 1902.

934,599; Patented Sept-21,1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES: WVEN R Q By g a I v C/ W Arrmv n w. P. FLINT. APPARATUS FORVAPORIZING HYDROGARBON OILS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 18, 1902.

Patented Sept. 21, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W/ TNE SSE S W. P. FLINT. APPARATUS FOR VAPORIZING HYDROGARBON OILS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 18, 1902.

Patented-Sept. 21, 1909.

. Emw TIA Ma Q 51 imilmm WITNESSES 1% 0252449 B H M UNITED "STATESPATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM P. FLINT, OF PITT SIBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, .ASSIGNOR TO THEWESTING- HOUSE MACHINE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OEPEN NSYLVAN IA.

.citizen of the United and I regard as substantial improvements overAPPARATUS FOR VAPORIZING HYDROCARBON OILS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM P. FLINT, a States, and a resident ofPittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for VaporizingHydrocarbon Oils, of which the following 15 aspecification. v Myinvention relates to the vaporization of hydrocarbon oils for ation ofinternal-combustion, explosive engines, and ithas for its object toprovide an apparatus of this character. which shall be comparativelysimple and inexpensive in construction and which shall operateeflectively and satisfactorily to vaporize any. fairly volatile oil,even though it may'conconsist of a mixture of tain impurities and lightand heavy constituents.

My invention is designed and intended to vaporize oil and supply thesame to the mixing valve or chamber of an engine without admixturetherewith of any appreciable quantity of air in the vaporizing process.

The apparatus embodying my invention the method which is involved in itsuse the carbureting apparatus and methods in which the oil is vaporizedby mixing it with heated air, since carbureters .of the latter class areso extremely sensitive to variations in the quality of the oil and inthe temperature atwhich thevaporization is effected that frequentadjustment of the engine mixing valve or valves is necessary in order toV insure satisfactory operation.

.In the use of my apparatus, by oil under the action ofheat andsubstantially without admixture of air therewith the resulting vapor isof such quality'that moderate variations in. the quality of the oil usedare supplied to the en ine. Ias ,due'to the relations ip existmgbetweenthe boilin or in the temperature at which the vaporization takes placedo not make it necessary to materially adjust or vary the. valve thatcontrols the proportions of gas and air which This I regard point andthe density 0 ous fuel ydro-carbons and the amount of d nsity, but sinceitsboiling point is higher 'air-required for their combustion. Forexa'm'ple,; less volume of kerosene vapor per cubic footcomparingkerosene and gasolene, a

of air is required, on account, of its v reater Specification of LettersPatent.

use in, the oper-v vaporizing the vari-.

Patented Sept. 21, 1909.

Application filed August 18, 1902. Serial No. 120,062.

than that of gasolene,'the vapor produced from it is hotter and,therefore, less dense than it would be if it could exist as vapor at thesame temperature as that at which gasolene boils. Furthermore, the rateof flow of gases through orifices is inversely proportional to thesquare root of the den sity and, hence, if an orifice which is ofsufficient size to admit the right amount of gasolene vapor be used forkerosene vapor, it will admit a less volume of the latter, by reason ofthe greater density of the vapor, and this lesser volume will be attemperature than the corresponding gasolene vapor, from which it followsthat, in practice, an orifice of a given size is almost equally welladapted for both gasolene and kerosene vapor. Moreover, if vapor becomessuperheated to such a degree that its density is decreased ten percent., a ten per be required, in will be cent. increase in the volumewill yet the amount of vapor taken increased in the ratio of Q L L 10 or5.3%.

This den'ionstrates that the disturbance of the mixture due to changesin temperature is less rapid than the disturbance of the density. I havefound, therefore, that the engine is notsensitive to moderate changes ineither the nature of the oil vapor or the amount a; which it may besuperheated. This is a most desirable feature, since the engineer canascertain after a short period of operation what is the best valveadjustment and then leave the engine to vary the quantity taken in inaccordance with the load, feeling confident that the quality of themixture will be satisfactory without further attention from him.

My invention is susceptible of embodiment in a variety of forms ofapparatus, but, in order that those skilled in the art-may understandandpractice'the invention, I have illustrated some of the forms which Iconsider most satisfactory in service in the ac companying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a view, mainly in elevation but partially in section,of substantially an entire plant for producing" vapor in accordance withmyinvention. Fig.

a higher and using hydro-carbon- 2 is a longitudinal, sectionalviewofthe ing provided with a valve 23 by means of 1 'tion and partiallyin of operatlon I being vaporizing chambers shown in Fig.1. Fig.

3 is a transverse, sectional view through both of the vaporizingchambers shown 1n Fig. 1, view, partially in front elevaand Fig. 4 is asection, of the said vaporizing chambers.

a modified form of yaporizing chamber, the

end. elevation and partially in section, double chamber vaporizingapparatus of modified construction. Fig. 7 along the line A-A of Fig. 2.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 1 to 4:, lnclusive, the oil" to bevaporized is drawn.

from a suitable tank 1 by means of a pump 2, which may be driven by anysuitable 'sourceofpower, but is shown in the present instance as theengine 4 bymeans of a belt The oil passes to the pump 2 from the tank 1through a pipe 6 and is forced by the pump through a pipe 7 into achamber 8 which is connected,

to the pipe 7 by a branch pipe 9 at one side, and, at the opposite side,ing a regulatmg valve chambers of the the unvaporized oil flows intotheadjacent vaporizing chamber, the structure and mode of thesevaporizing chambers hereinafter more fully described.

The ipe 7 is continued upward to a suitable height to constitute a ventpipe 12 and the u per end 13 necte to this vent pipe by a branch pipe1 1. The chamber 8 is also provided with a vertical tube 15, throughwhich any excess of oil supplied by the pump beyond the amount desiredwill overflow into the lower part 16 of the chamber 8 and will flowthence, pipe 17, back to the tank 1. The chamber 8 and its tube 15, whenused in. the system as indicated, constitute a constant-level overflowdevice, as will be hereinafter more fully described. I

The. vaporizer 11 is primarily heated by gas or lampflames 1'8 and,after the engine is by a pipe 10, havstarted and in operation, the flamemay becut off and the oil be thereafter vaporized by means of the heatfrom the products of combustionsupplied to the heating chamber of thevaporizer from the exhaustport of the engine through a pipe 19 andexhausted from said chambers through a pipe 20.-

The vapor produced in the vaporizing chambers is supplied to the enginethrough a pipe 21 and a branch pipe '22, the latter bewhich the supplymay be cut off," when desired. The pipe 21 is also continued to the g isprovided 1 trap 24 of a condenser 24, which with a vent pipe 25 and towhich condensing *ater is supplied by :a pipe 26. The condensed vaporflowsvfrom the trap 24 through asight-feed device'24:

Fig. 5 is a'view'of a portion of an internal-combustion engine and a isa section driven from the main shaft 3 of 10*, to one of the] vaporizer11, from which of the chamber 8 is conthrough a I and a pipe 27 back tothe tank 1. The watercompartment of the condenser 2 1* is also shown asconnected to the cooling jackets of the engine 4, by means of a pipe 28.The condenser is, of course, utilized only for the purpose of condensingany excess of vapor over that required for the operation of the engineand it may be of any suitable construction to effect that result.

The details of construction of the vaporizer shown in Figs. 2, 3 and .4will now be described, it being understood, however, as above indicated,that the specific details here shown are not essential to the practicingof my invention, but are regarded as useful'and satisfactory for thatpurpose. The vaporizerll is provided with a nonconducting covering 29,in order to prevent loss of heat, and the vapor conducting pipes mightalso be provided with such coverings, if desired, and, in ordinarily soprotected in practice.

The vaporizing chambers 30 and 31 of the vaporizer are connected, at oneend, by a 1 passage 32 adjaeent'to which,in chamber 30, is located aweir or dam 30.. As will be observed, the chamber 30 is at a hi herlevel 1 than the chamber 31, so that, as oi is introduced from the pipe10 through the port 33, I at one end of the chamber30, and, as it is Esubjected-to'the vaporizin nets of combustion, it. chamber, over the damows through this 30 and through the vision of-the dam 30 the presence,in the chamber 30 of a body of .oil at all times and thus providesa'safeguard against carbonizat-ion of the oil to an injurious degree.Inasmuch as the oil is comparatively cold when it enters the chamber 30,the more volatile-constituents will be vaporized in this chamber and theless volatile constituents will be vaporized in the chamber 31, sincethe oil which asses into the latter chamber will be heate temperaturebefore entering the chamber.

Since the oil which I. propose to use is likely to contain more or lessnon-volatile constituents, a residuum will gradually accumulate andit'will be chiefly found in the chamber 31, since of the two. v siduum,which would otherwise fill up the system, I provide tached a float 35,

that chamber is the hotter so that,' when the accumulation' of residuumin the chamber reaches a 1 predetermineddepth, the float will open thevalve and permit the residuum to escape through a pipe 36. i v

The chambers 37 and 38 for the products of combustion and whichrespectively surl roundthe chambers 30 and 31 are preferably providedwith deflecting ribs 39, so as to direct the products of combustionagainst passage 32 into the chamber 31. The pros substantially insures avalve 34, to whiclr is atfact, probably would be heat of the prodv to ahigh In? order to dispose of this reall exhaust gas to leak out.

. ed as to prevent undesirable portions of thebottoms of the chambers 30and 31 and so retard the passage of the said products of combustion asto insure the giving up of amaximum amount of heat for vaporizingpurposes. a

It will be observed that one end of each of the chambers 30 and 31 isrovided with a removable cap 40,'which is, fastened in position by meansof screw-bolts 41 and is pro-- vided with a handle 42, in order that itmay be removed when it is desired to gain access to thechamber for thepurpose of cleaning the same. 4

On account of facility of construction and also to provide againststrains due to unequal expansion of the' outer shell and inner chambers,I prefer to make them, as shown, in separate pieces and to attach themrigidly at one end while using a form of simple stuffing-box 11* at theother end to permit a small relative motion without allowing much Itwill, of course, be understood that the "oil chambers might be on theexterior and the heating chambers on the interior, if desired, but Iprefer the arrangement'shown, for the reason that the first namedconstruction would necessitatethe employment of stufiing-boxes whichshould prevent the escape of hot oil and oil vapor, whereas, with mypreferred construction the glands are interposed'between the atmosphereand the exhaust gases, the escape of which, in small quantities, is ofcomparatively little consequence.

It will be seen that in the combination and arrangement of apparatusshown in Fig. 1, if too much pressure is generated in the vaporizer, nomore oil can flow into it until the pressure falls and some oil may beactually forced out of chamber 30 into the supply conduit, whereas, whenthe vaporizer pressure is approximately equal to that of the atmosphere,the constant-level overflow device tends to insure a'substantiallyconstant though slight flow of liquid over the dam 30% This arrangementtherefore provides substantially, the amount of vapor required by theengine, but if more than the desired quantity of vapor is supplied, theexcess will pass into the trap 24 and to the condensing chamber, whereit will be condensed, to flow back into the trap. Notwithstanding theregulation of the system, as above described, the intermittent demandmade by the engine tends to cause irregularity in the flow of oilthrough pipe 10 and I therefore provide a regulating cock 10 which maybe so adjustfluctuations in the oil level in the chamber 30.

IVhile I have shown three pipes 19 for the introduction of exhaustgasesto the chamber 38, this is merely indicative of apparatus designedfor use in connection with a threecylinder engine, the invention being,of

carries no important percentages of residuum.

In Fig. 5, I have shown a single vaporizer 43, the 011 chamber 44 andheating chamber 45 of whlch are vertical. The exhaust gases are suppliedto the upper end of the heating chamber from the engine 4* through apipe 19 and are exhausted from the lower end of the chamber through apipe 20*. The oil chamber is supplied with oil through a pipe 14connected to its .lower end and provided with a regulating valve 14 andthe vapor passes to the engine through a pipe 21 connected to the top ofthe chamber 44. The heating chamber is provided with deflecting blades39 and the initial heating of the vapor is effected by means of a flame18". The pipe 19* is provided with a vertical'branch 19 which serves asa chimney when the flame 18 is in use and the top of which may be closedby a suitable cap 19 when the ex aust gases are supplied to the heatingchamber 45 for vaporizing purposes. The vaporizing and vapor-conductingparts are preferably provided with coverings of insulating material 29*,as shown.

The other parts of the apparatus suitable to be used in connection withwhat is here shown may be substantially the same as those illustrated inFig. 1, or they may be modified to suit the convenience or desires ofthe designer or user of the apparatus.

Any excess of vapor over that required by the engine, may be taken careof by a condenser and trap, as set forth in connection with Fig. 1 ofthe drawing, or a check valve 24 may be employed instead of the trap,either in connection with a water-cooled condenser or, as indicated inFig. 5, in connection with a coil of pipe 21 the exposure of which tothe atmosphere serves to effect the desired condensation.

The apparatus shown in Fig. 5 is well adaptedfor use in connection withliquids which have relatively low boiling points and are substantiallyfree from impurities and which vaporize without leaving a residuum ofany considerable amount.

In Fig. 6, I have shown an apparatus in which the. oil is supplied tothevaporizer from a receptacle located at such height that a pump is notrequired. In this form of the invention, the source of oil supply isrepresented as a receptacle 46, in which is, located the neck'of aninverted bottle 47 and, leading from the receptacle 46 to the chamber48, is a pipe 49 provided with a shut-off cock The chamber 48 isconnected with a sight feed device 51 by a pipe 51 having a regulatingcock 51 and the device 51 1s connected, by means of a pipe 52, with avaporizing chamber 53. The chamber 53 is connected, by means of a pipe54 and a branch pipe 55, to the mixing-valve or chamber of the en gine4". The heating chamber 56 of the vaporizer is connected to the exhaustport of the engine by means of a pipe 57 and the products of combustion,after giving up their heat or the major portion of it, are exhaustedthrough apipe 58.

Any excess of vapor or oil of condensation may flow from the branch pipe55, through a pipe 59, to the trap chamber 48,w h1ch 1s a part of acondenser 60, the condensing water for which is supplied through a pipe61 and which has a vent pipe 62. The water conipartment of thiscondenser is also connected to the cooling jacket of the'engine, bymeans of a pipe 63. In this form of my invention, as well as in thatshown in Fig. 5, the level of the oil in the vaporizing chamber iscontrolled by the regulating cock, which is so set as to admitsuflicient oil to provide the engine with the amount of vapor necessaryfor heavy loads. -lVhen operating, under lighter loads, the surplus oilis vaporlzed and then condensed and returned to the oil-supply conduit.

.The vaporizing chamber 53 of the vapor rizer is provided with an upperand outer portion 64, into which the oil flows from the source of supplyand which corresponds to the chamber 30 of Fig. 2. The oil which is notvaporized in this part of the chamber overflows into the central andlower chamber (55, in which is located a float 66 attached to a valve67,the latter controlling an opening leading into a drain pipe 68, so that,when the residuum in the compartment 65 reaches a. predetermined depth,the valve will be opened and the residuum, or a portion of it,

a will drain out through the pipe 68, substantially in the manneralready described in connection with the construction shown in Figs. 1to 4.

The'source of heat for initially vaporizing a portion of the oil may bethe same as that described in connection with the other forms of theinvention and is indicated at 18*. As shown, the "vaporizer and thepipes for conducting vapor therefrom are provided with a suitablenon-conducting covering 29". r I a As has been already indicated, myinvention is not intended to be circumscribed or 1. In combmatlon withan internal combustion engme, a .vaponzer 1n communication with theengine inlet and through which no air is drawn, a heating chamber forsaid vaporizer in connection with the exhaust of the engine, anoilsupply tank at a level lower 'than that of the vaporizer, a conduit,0I'izer, return from the overflow chamber to the tank and means forcondensing surplusvapor and returning the oil condensation to the tank.

2. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a gasifier forhydrocarbon oils comprising two basins located at differentv levels andhaving a dam or overflow connection bet-ween adjacent ends, means forsupplying oil to the upper basin at its closed end, and means dependenton the amount of residue in the lower basin for withdrawing thenon-volatile residue of the oil utilized from the corresponding end ofthe lower basin.

3. In combination with an internal com bustion engine, a gasifier forhydrocarbon oils comprising an upper and lowerv basin located in andforming a part of a vapor chamber, a constant-level tank for supplyingoil to thelower part of said basinand means for withdrawing vapor fromthe upper part of said basin whereby variations of the amount of vaporwithdrawn automatically control the supply of oil thereto.

4. The combination with an internal combustion engine,'of an oil vaporsystem consisting of an exhaust-heated vaporizer and a hot vapor pipeleading to the engine, a liquid oil system consisting of, a main oilsupply, a constant-level oil supply,.a pipe connecting theconstant-level oil supply with the vaporizer, a pump delivering oilfrom'. the main oil supply to the constant-level oil supply, a drainpipe for returning surplus oil from the constant-level oil supply to thepump, and a trap or check valve and a condenser for returning condensedoil vapor from the oil vapor system to the liquid oil system. a

5. The combination with an internal combustion engine, of an oil vaporsystem consisting of an oil vaporizer and a hot vapor system consisting.of a main-oil supply tank,

- a constant-level oil supply 't'ank, means whereby oil flows from themain oil supply tank to the constant-level oil supply tank whenever thelevel in the latter falls below a certain point, and a pipe connectingthe constant-level oil supply tank with the oil vaporizer, and a trap orcheck valve and a condenser 'for returning condensed oil vapor,

from the oil vapor system to the liquid oil system.

-6. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a gasifier forhydro-carbonliquids comprising an upper and lower basin located in avapor chamber, an oil supply to the lower part of said upper basin,means for wlthdrnwlng vapor from said. Vapor ally control tl Tn tesllmo1e supply of oil to said basin. ny whereof, I have hereunto subscribedmy name this 15th (lay of August, 1902.

WM. P. FLINT.

Witnesses G120. V. MILLIGAN, J. C. MQRs

